From the event

Address

It's a great pleasure to
be with you today. I want to thank NATO countries for the assessment
of Albania made by the Alliance through the PARP 2007 Report.
I take this opportunity to express Albanian support for the new
PARP Ministerial Guidance, and the Chairman's report on Euro-Atlantic
Partnership.

Euro-Atlantic integration is at the top of the agenda of the Albanian
government. We are well aware of the principles of common burden,
joint responsibilities and cost-sharing within the Alliance, and
we are strongly committed to respect these principles.

Dear Colleagues!
Let me be more concrete in what we are doing.

Our national reforms
have clearly reflected the messages of the Riga Summit. The core
of the transformation of the Albanian Armed Forces is the commitment
to build a fully professional force by the end of 2010, three
years before our previous plans. Our organization is moving to
the joint concept.

We have paid special attention to the future
operational capabilities recommended by Riga Summit. Specifically,
we have planned to develop 8% of the land component deployable
at a given time, and 40% of the total land component ready for
potential rotations.

NATO membership is a national endeavor supported
by more than 90 % of the Albanian population and all political
parties. The Albanian government has already devoted 2% of the GDP
to the defense budget by 2008; two years earlier than previously
planned, and is committed to maintaining that level of commitment
until 2020.

Hand on hand with the fulfillment of constitutional missions,
first priority of the new Military Strategy and Long Term Development
Plan is given to operational capabilities in support NATO-led
missions.

Our current participation in these missions has been
a real test, providing considerable experience to our soldiers,
serving shoulder-to-shoulder with NATO forces.

We will continue
our commitments to peace-support operations in Afghanistan, in
Iraq, and in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

We know that Afghanistan is NATO
Priority One; therefore the Albanian Government has decided to
increase our contribution to the ISAF NATO-led mission by one additional
company, together with the Italian contingent in Herat. I take
this opportunity to once again extend my appreciation to Minister
Parisi for the excellent cooperation.

Albania is committed to provide
in the short term a fully operational
battalion for NATO-led missions, and in the mid term, a battalion
task force of some 1000 personnel, with all necessary National
Support Elements. We are also putting emphasis on development of
some specialized "niche" capabilities needed by NATO,
including EOD, Military Police, CIMIC, a Medical capability and a
Host Nation Support capability. On 24-th of this May, the Albanian
Prime Minister signed with the Secretary General the participation
in NATO-led operation "Active Endeavour* in the Mediterranean.

Albania has also declared 7 units to the NATO Pool of Forces, and
has expressed the political will to participate in the NATO Response
Force following completion of the NATO Level 2 unit evaluation.
A Pool of military and civilian personnel have recently begun advanced
training NATO, and less NATO in the Balkans, will soon become
a reality.

In this context, we fully support President Ahtisaari's
proposal as the basis for a long-lasting solution for peace and
stability in Kosovo and the region. Further delays will not help
at all.

Dear Colleagues,
During his visit to Albania, President Bush
expressed a positive evaluation of the progress made by Albania
and especially by the Armed Forces. We feel proud for that, we are
fully aware that we still have a lot to do; we are providing all
of the resources required to support our membership plans, but we
still need your support to do it right.

We will do everything in
order to receive the invitation in next Bucharest Summit Let me
thank you and your countries again for the support provided to Albania
and Albanian Armed Forces.